Renewing Your Certification

Annual renewals for each of the five categories of Professional Certification are due January 15 of each year. Payment of the $85.00 (US) renewal fee and a completed Certification Annual Renewal Form must be submitted to us prior to January 15 to avoid the late payment fee of an additional $85.00 (US), or your suspension from the International Registry of Certified Environmental Samplers and Specialists. You can download the certification renewal form by clicking on this link: Certification Annual Renewal Form.

Keeping current with evolving technology and field methods is an important part of maintaining your certification. So, annually, each person who is certified must complete at least 8 hours of continuing education specifically related to the subject matter of the certification (i.e., a Certified Ground-Water Sampler must complete 8 hours of training related specifically to ground-water sampling). Under this program, 1 continuing education unit (CEU) is earned for each hour of training. Acceptable forms of continuing education include:

Attendance at conferences with relevant subject matter

Taking Nielsen Environmental E-School E-Modules or E-Courses (if you earn more than 8 CEUs taking E-Modules or E-Courses, you may carry over the excess CEUs to the next year's renewal). PLEASE NOTE; For those taking E-Modules to apply toward CEU credit for renewal of Certifications, per Certification Progam rules, you are NOT permitted to take for credit, E-Modules that you have taken previously.

Attendance at “live” open-enrollment courses, web-based courses or webinars offered by other providers (including US EPA, ITRC, and other public entities or private companies)

Attendance at webinars or other on-line training events offered by equipment manufacturers or suppliers

Attendance at formal in-house (corporate or agency) training sessions that cover subject matter related specifically to the type of certification you hold

The following do not count toward your 8-hour CEU requirment:

Corporate or other health and safety refreshers

In-house review of SOPs or regulatory guidance documents

On-the-job training

Viewing of YouTube videos

Taking E-Modules you have taken in previous years. While our system will allow you to register for modules you have already taken, you cannot claim CEU credit for those modules.

Attendance at all training events (whether “live” or web-based) must be properly documented. Acceptable forms of documentation include:

Course completion certificates documenting proof of attendance and documenting the date(s) of the course, the subject matter for the course, and the number of hours for each course completed (a course syllabus will work for this part);

A receipt for payment for each training event, along with a detailed description or outline from the course provider documenting the content and length of the course (simply copying website content without a receipt or formal confirmation of registration is not acceptable);

For conferences, a complete schedule of the conference with an indication of which conference presentations (platform papers, workshops, short courses or other events) you attended, and a signed affidavit from the presenter(s) documenting your attendance at each presentation (download the affidavit form here or contact the event sponsor prior to the conference to determine if they have a similar mechanism for documenting your participation at the various presentations throughout the conference).

For in-house training sessions, an outline of the session (with times) along with a certificate of completion or a signed affidavit from the instructor(s) documenting your attendance.

If you have any questions about whether a course, conference, webinar or in-house training session will be accepted, please provide us with detailed content information for the training event (outline, detailed schedule, detailed course description, link to on-line course material, etc.) and we will be happy to evaluate that information for you.